Bill Ackman

This just got personal. Herbalife Ltd. has obtained the rights to domain names such as therealbillackman.com and billackman.net, a sign that the Los Angeles nutritional products company may be planning a public campaign against one of its biggest critics -- billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman. Ackman said Herbalife is worried about his assertions that it is a pyramid scheme in which distributors are paid more for recruiting new distributors than for selling its diet shakes and protein powders.

Activist investor Bill Ackman and his unlikely Canadian partner, Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc., unveiled details of their bid for Irvine pharmaceutical company Allergan Inc., which makes the popular Botox wrinkle treatment. Valeant will offer to pay $48.30 in cash and 0.83 shares of stock in its company for each share of Allergan stock. At Monday's closing price, the deal would be worth about $152.89 per share, or $45.6 billion. Shares of Allergan were up 14% at about $162.50 Tuesday morning, a sign that investors may want more for the company than Valeant and Ackman are offering.

NEW YORK -- The Herbalife saga is getting more bizarre. Activist investor Bill Ackman is pointing to a top Herbalife distributor's suicide as an omen for the Los Angeles company's fortunes. The nutritional products maker, however, said Ackman is merely trying to exploit a family tragedy out of desperation. In a letter to his investors Tuesday, the New York hedge fund manager noted that a Colorado distributor took his own life recently. The letter also cited other departures of distributors from the nutritional products company amid rule changes for how they operate.

Canadian company Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. and activist investor Bill Ackman moved forward with their plans to acquire Botox maker Allergan Inc., offering shareholders about $46 billion and touching off what could be a contentious fight. Several industry analysts said they expect Allergan to reject the offer as too low, and said a fierce boardroom battle may be on the horizon. An issue certain to alarm Allergan is Valient's announced plans to slash research and development spending at the Irvine company.

One voice that was not heard during Herbalife Ltd.'s conference call with analysts Wednesday morning was hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, who has accused the company of operating a pyramid scheme and shorted $1 billion of its shares. "We followed the instructions, pushed star 1, and were not allowed on. Why are you surprised?" Ackman said in an email to The Times. The company said in a statement that it has no record of Ackman or anyone at his firm, Pershing Square Capital Management, attempting to ask a question.

Canadian company Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. and activist investor Bill Ackman moved forward with their plans to acquire Botox maker Allergan Inc., offering shareholders about $46 billion and touching off what could be a contentious fight. Several industry analysts said they expect Allergan to reject the offer as too low, and said a fierce boardroom battle may be on the horizon. An issue certain to alarm Allergan is Valient's announced plans to slash research and development spending at the Irvine company.

With investors punishing his company's stock for a third consecutive day, the top executive of Herbalife Ltd. sought to reassure shareholders Friday that his company is not a pyramid scheme. Working from the firm's tony headquarters in downtown Los Angeles, Herbalife chief Michael Johnson telephoned institutional investors, including fund managers at Fidelity, disputing highly publicized criticism from prominent New York hedge fund manager Bill Ackman. Johnson also assembled a team of about a dozen top company officials to prepare a point-by-point defense against Ackman's assertions that Herbalife is a "sophisticated pyramid scheme" whose independent sales associates make more money recruiting new distributors than actually selling products.

This has been a good year so far for Herbalife Ltd. shareholders -- and a painful one for Bill Ackman, the activist manager of hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management. Ackman last year shorted 20 million shares of Herbalife stock, about one-fifth of its outstanding shares, betting $1 billion that the Los Angeles nutritional products company would fail. Herbalife's stock, instead, has surged more than 75% this year, hitting a 12-month high Tuesday and leaving Ackman and his Pershing Square down $169 million by Friday afternoon.

Herbalife Ltd. shares rose after a profanity-filled battle on live television between two billionaire investors with vastly different views of the Los Angeles company. Bill Ackman, who has an enormous short position on Herbalife and has called the company a pyramid scheme, and Carl Icahn, who reportedly has a long position on the company, traded personal insults during a nearly 30-minute telephone discussion aired live Friday on CNBC. Icahn called Ackman a "liar" and said: "He's got one of the worst reputations on Wall Street.

February 15, 2013 | By Andrew Tangel and Stuart Pfeifer, Los Angeles Times

NEW YORK - It's no longer just a war of words. Corporate raider Carl Icahn has thrown $214 million behind Herbalife Ltd., the Los Angeles-based maker of health foods and nutritional supplements accused of being a pyramid scheme by Icahn's foe, fellow Wall Street tycoon Bill Ackman. Documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday reveal that Icahn purchased more than 14 million shares and options in Herbalife, a nearly 13% stake that would make him the company's second-largest investor.

Activist investor Bill Ackman is partnering with a Canadian pharmaceutical company in an effort to buy Allergan Inc., the Irvine company that makes the popular wrinkle treatment Botox. Ackman and Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. have already acquired nearly 10% of Allergan's shares and will soon offer to purchase the company, Ackman and Valeant said Monday in a regulatory filing. News of the likely bid increased the stock price of both companies. In after-hours trading, investors drove up Allergan as much as 21% and Valeant by 10%. No formal offer was made Monday, but there was speculation about how much Allergan could fetch.

Shares of Herbalife Ltd. suffered their biggest loss in more than a year Friday following a report that criminal authorities are investigating the Los Angeles nutritional products company. The FBI has launched a criminal investigation of Herbalife and its web of independent distributors, a federal law enforcement source told The Times. A federal law enforcement official in New York confirmed Friday that the FBI had opened an inquiry into Herbalife but did not know first-hand the extent of the investigation.

The rancorous battle over Herbalife's business practices took a critical turn as the company revealed that it is being investigated by the Federal Trade Commission. Herbalife did not reveal details of the probe, but the Los Angeles nutritional products maker reiterated its long-held position that its business model is sound. The company has been the target of accusations that it operates a pyramid scheme. "Herbalife welcomes the inquiry given the tremendous amount of misinformation in the marketplace, and will cooperate fully with the FTC," the company said in a statement.

The Federal Trade Commission has launched a civil investigation into Herbalife Ltd., the Los Angeles-based nutritional-products maker said Wednesday. Herbalife did not disclose any details of the probe, but it has been waging an ongoing battle against a hedge fund manager's allegations that it is running a thinly disguised pyramid scheme. The company reiterated its long-stated position that its business model is sound and said it would cooperate with the inquiry. "Herbalife welcomes the inquiry given the tremendous amount of misinformation in the marketplace, and will cooperate fully with the FTC,” the company said in a statement.

Activist hedge fund manager Bill Ackman continued his relentless attack on Herbalife, releasing a report that accuses millionaire Herbalife distributor John Tartol of misleading others into selling the company's nutrition products. Ackman's company, Pershing Square Capital Management, said in the report released on its website Thursday that Tartol has made millions of dollars by misleading people into believing they can get rich as independent Herbalife distributors. “What took us that many years to do - 25, 30-plus years - you can all do in the next six, seven, eight years,” Tartol said at a 2011 Herbalife convention in Las Vegas, according to Ackman's report.

A year ago, activist investor Bill Ackman rocked Wall Street with a $1-billion bet that shares of Herbalife Ltd., the Los Angeles seller of weight-loss and nutrition products, would slide to zero. Herbalife was a "pyramid scheme," bound to be undone by regulators and destroyed, he told the Los Angeles Times and other media outlets Dec. 19. Herbalife shares plummeted 42% in the next five days, hitting a midday low of $24.24 on Christmas Eve. At the time, it seemed that 2013 would be difficult for Herbalife.

Herbalife Ltd. shares gained 4% and traded part of Monday above the price they were when hedge fund manager Bill Ackman first accused the Los Angeles nutritional products company of operating a long-running pyramid scheme. The company's stock price plummeted Dec. 19 after Ackman publicly disclosed that he had taken a $1-billion short position against its shares. In the four trading days after Ackman's announcement, the stock fell 43%, reaching an intra-day low of $24.24 on Christmas Eve. Taking a short position involves borrowing shares at a high price and selling them, expecting to repurchase them later when the price falls and thus profit from the decline in stock prices.

Hedge fund Third Point took an 8.2% stake in Herbalife Ltd., becoming the latest firm to bet against hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, who has accused the direct seller of nutritional products of being a pyramid scheme. Third Point, which had about $10 billion under management and is run by financier Daniel Loeb, has purchased 8.9 million Herbalife shares, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Herbalife is fighting allegations made by Ackman, the founder of Pershing Square Capital Management, that it uses inflated pricing, misleading sales information and a complicated incentive structure to hide a pyramid scheme.

A year ago, activist investor Bill Ackman rocked Wall Street with a $1-billion bet that shares of Herbalife Ltd., the Los Angeles seller of weight-loss and nutrition products, would slide to zero. Herbalife was a "pyramid scheme," bound to be undone by regulators and destroyed, he told the Los Angeles Times and other media outlets Dec. 19. Herbalife shares plummeted 42% in the next five days, hitting a midday low of $24.24 on Christmas Eve. At the time, it seemed that 2013 would be difficult for Herbalife.